Parry Sound Nature Club meets again, March 21

Members and friends of the Parry Sound Nature Club got a taste of the beauty of Vancouver Island on Wednesday, February 15, when Ron Black, biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources here in Parry Sound, was the guest speaker.
He visited Vancouver Island last year with his wife, and shared some beautiful photographs, wonderful stories and facts about the area and its wildlife at the meeting.
Their first stop was the Sooke – Port Renfrew area – on the southwest coast of the island. There were many great hiking trails, and plenty of opportunities for birding, especially for shorebirds.
They observed sea otters in the ocean, and, in the lovely coastal rainforest of Sitka spruce, western red cedar, Douglas fir and hemlock, they even spotted a banana slug.
Ron was not lucky enough to spot a dromedary jumping slug, although with a name like that, it might be better to steer clear.
There are many large, beautiful beaches in the area, and in most of Ron’s photos, they appeared to be the only people on them.
Even though they were there in August, and the weather was reasonably warm, the Pacific Ocean is still very cold, so sun worshipers and bathers find warmer, inland areas.
This is great for a naturalist, and they saw plenty of interesting shore birds such as sandpipers, turnstones and whimbrels.
Since whale watching is big business and popular with tourists in this area, the Blacks took in a couple of excursions on their trip.
Ron provided some interesting facts about the whale species found in the area, particularly about the humpback whales that he had many great photos of.
Another interesting area they visited was the Botanical Beach Provincial Park where there is a trail leading to the ocean.
It is best to visit at low tide to wander among the pools left along the shore to observe the richly varied and fascinating forms of ocean life that live in this intertidal zone. It is also a feeding area for eagles, shorebirds, sea otters and other animals.
The next few days were spent in the Ucluelet and Tofino areas, a little further up the western coast of Vancouver Island. This area provided more opportunities for birding and for whale watching.
On an excursion out from Ucluelet, their whale-watching guide found some gray whales.
These amazing creatures have the longest annual round trip between their breeding grounds and feeding areas at about 19,500km!!
In Tofino, they visited Long Beach, the longest beach on the island, and the beautiful Wikanninish Beach, both of which are popular with surfers.
Next was a drive across the island to Campbell River on the east side, with a stop in Cathedral Grove to admire the huge trees growing there. It was an awe-inspiring place, to be sure.
From Campbell River, they went by small float plane to Knight Inlet and Minstrel Island, to a place appropriately called Grizzly Bear Lodge. Here they had four days to take advantage of more whale-watching excursions and guided opportunities for observing grizzly bears. On one whale watching trip, Ron got an excellent photo of an extremely large black bear, which he estimated to weigh over 600 pounds. They saw more humpback whales and sea lions, and wonderful encounters with pods of orca whales. There are two types of Orcas seen in this area – transient and resident – and they are distinguished by the size of their dorsal fin as well as pod size and feeding strategy.
Ron and his wife had a few opportunities to view grizzly bears feeding on salmon in a stream flowing into Knight Inlet. The boat ride to the viewing area was an adventure some days, too, depending on the cycle of the 14-foot tides in the inlet. Ron shared many interesting observations about the various bears feeding in this area – they all seemed to display unique behaviours, personalities and fishing techniques – and he captured many wonderful images of these wonderful animals.
The Parry Sound Nature Club is grateful to Ron for speaking to our group about his trip to Vancouver Island. We hope he can come again and share stories of his next great adventure, whatever that might be. The next meeting will be on March 21, at 7 p.m. at the West Parry Sound District Museum when Rob Willson will be speaking about “Reptiles and Other Critters of Arizona”. Mr. Willson has spent years researching snakes, and will share images and stories from his travels to Arizona to search for reptiles. Hope you can join us, and be sure to “lug-a-mug” for refreshments!